A great matchup of between the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans in the wild-card hunt saw some inconsistencies in a close game.
Defenseless Players and Unnecessary Roughness
I have written about the concept of defenseless players a few times this year. It is absolutely essential for understanding how hits are judged in the NFL for unnecessary roughness. Any hit to the head or neck area (and this is going to be judged to include the shoulders, upper back, and upper chest) of a defenseless player should draw a flag.
The trick is that defenseless player is a term of art – it doesn’t mean what the common English words imply.